These Poor Friends of Mine
by BlackHawk931
Summary: This is meant to be a second perspective/side story of the story "Blessings of God on these Poor Friends" that my friend is writing. I recommend you read his as well as he's much further along in the story.
1. introduction to a strange new world

I woke up in a strange place. Surrounding me was nothing but blackness and a fog-like mist. I was sitting in a small wooden chair and across from me was a white chair that had a much higher back to it. The floor beneath my feet was a checkered tile floor, that faded out quickly into the black nothingness. Or at least what I assumed was nothing.

"Colby Scott"

The sudden voice got my attention as a rather young looking girl walked by me. She had light blue hair and wore a blue shirt and boots, there was also some kind of weird gravity defying pink transparent veil around her. As a side note, she was also quite the looker. Also of note, she looked like she was straight out of an anime!

"Welcome to the afterlife," she continued "unfortunately you passed away moments ago. Your life was a short one, but you are, in fact, dead."

My first thoughts went to my friends. We were all riding in the same car. "If I'm dead, what about my friends?"

"unfortunately, all your friends were killed in the crash as well," she said somewhat reluctantly "Isabel and Hayley have already been through me. They are now in heaven." So that still left Danny. Guess he was after me for some reason.

"I understand," I stated "so who are you supposed to be?" She stood up from her chair and the pink veil thing disappeared.

"I am Aqua," she stated, almost as if I was supposed to be impressed "I am the goddess who guides humans who die young to the afterlife." all of this sounded like it had been rehearsed.

"I get the Gist, you don't have to give me the whole song and dance," at this she looked rather annoyed at me interrupting her "can you just get on with it and send me to heaven already?"

"heaven, huh?" she said "ya know, heaven really isn't all it's cracked up to be." she said.

"how so?"

"there's nothing to do there except bask in the sun all day for eternity. There's no TV or books, you don't have a physical body, so any 'physical' activity is off the table." to be honest...that did sound boring.

"Well it's not like I have any other options is it?" I inquire.

"There is of course Reincarnation. Starting over from square one." That didn't sound spectacular either. "Or..."

"Or what?"

She walked up closer to me with a slight grin on her face "You like games right?"

"Well, yea?" I respond, not quite getting where she was going with this. She instantly jumped back and struck a pose that looked like she was about to give some grand speech.

"That world, which has long enjoyed peace, is being threatened by the Devil King's army!" she started. This seemed like some announcement I would see at E3 "The livelihood its citizens have worked for are being trampled by monsters. Everyone lives in fear of the Devil King's army's merciless pillage and slaughter!" I began to clap when she finished, a little a out of sarcasm, but mostly because of the way she said it. "Thank you! Thank you!" she said, bowing like she just won an award. "Since that's the kind of world it is, everyone refuses to be reborn, so the population is declining."

"Seriously!?" I blurt out.

"Yes, so we thought why not send people from other worlds there with their body and memories intact?"

"Heck yea, I'm in!"

"That's the spirit!" she exclaimed. Suddenly the floor was covered with pieces of paper, all of which had various weapons, abilities, items and the like "I'm allowing you to take one thing of your choosing, be it a legendary weapon, ability or the like. Of course, you can take practically anything of your choosing to this world. To help you decide, before you are various cards that have tremendous abilities, weapons or what-have-you."

As someone who was very familiar with spending more than a days worth of time creating an avatar for various RPGs, I decided to take my time in looking. As I observed the various cards, I realized how absolutely over-powered many of them were. There was one that gave you an infinite pool of magic, one that could reveal hidden enemies no matter where they might be. Personally, while I did dabble some, I never really got into much magic use in games, unless the game was about magic. I was much more of a swordplay kind of guy, so I knew what I wanted.

The swords they had were all very cool. There was one called the "Dragon Slayer" (how original) that could smash through armor of any kind. Useful, but not quite my style just due to how big it was. There was one called "Mongrel" which could eviscerate foes in one swing, but only if they were a low level. Great early on, especially for grinding (assuming that was a thing here), but would quickly become obsolete.

"Would you hurry up? There's plenty more people that I have to get to, including your friend." Gosh, Impatient much? She also procured a bag of chips from somewhere and was now lounging in her chair, looking very bored.

I was trying to take my time. If I was going to this world, I wanted to future proof myself. I needed something that was good enough so that it wouldn't become obsolete later, but also something that would be decently easy to use early on. Suddenly something caught my eye. The blades on the paper somewhat resembled sting from Lord of the Rings. They were called "The Blades of Woe" and they were meant to be dual wielded if I was reading it right. Apparently they stored all the damage dealt to all enemies previous enemies that could multiply the damage of a single strike onto an enemy. Basically the more enemies you cut up, the better this "devastating strike" apparently called "deliverance" would be. A good trump card. There was also a note at the bottom that " _Warning, Extremely Sharp!_ "

"I'll take this." I said as I stood up, the paper in hand. Aqua walked over and took the piece of paper and looked it over.

"The Blades of Woe, huh?" She said quizzically "Who the heck names these things?" At that the piece of paper disappeared in a similar manner as her veil did earlier. The blades appeared before me in their sheaths which apparently were supposed to strap onto my back.

Suddenly, a magic circle appeared and surrounded me. "So that's it huh? No farewell for the brave hero about to go and slay the Devil King?" I asked.

"Hey! I was about to get there!" she stated, slightly annoyed. I started to slowly levitate off the ground and she cleared her throat "Good Luck, Brave Adventurer. I pray that you succeed in your quest to defeat the Devil King and his army. Should you succeed, the gods will grant any wish you desire!" Awesome! Ironically, this day just seems to get better and better!

"OH! One last thing!" I call out to aqua "When you come in contact with my friend, you don't have to worry about reciting everything to him. I think he'll get the idea pretty quick!"

"Duly noted. Now Go forth on your adventure brave hero!" As she said this a bright portal opened up above me and I was pulled into it, almost like gravity had reversed itself.

* * *

When I arrived, my head instantly felt like I had a thousand things shoved inside of it all at once, and I felt dizzy extremely dizzy. Was this because of the portal that I had been sent through or something else. I thought for a minute, and realized "Of course! The language here, that must be it! They filled my head with all that as well!" I said to myself. I had strangely been put in the middle of a large town. It seemed odd to me that almost no one seemed to notice or stare at me, given the setting and time period. I quickly decided that I should look around.

Being that this world shared many similarities with RPG games from back home, I knew that I needed to get to a point that I could accept various quests and such, although in order to do that, I would actually need to become an adventurer. I assumed this world had some sort of class-based system, I just needed to figure out how to obtain a class to work under.

There was an apple vendor standing off to the side of the street. Gamer instinct would have told me to walk up to him and press "A" but I didn't have a controller with me. Not to mention that the dialogue options would probably be pretty dull. I decide to walk up to him to ask where I might be able to sign up to become an adventurer.

"Ah, another one eh?" he responded "You'd be looking for the guild hall if you're wanting to do that."

"And where might that be?" I inquired.

"Just head down that path over there. Eventually you'll come into view of a larger building. You can't miss it. You'll know it when you see it."

"Thanks!" I respond to the somewhat surprisingly kind man. Surely enough, the directions he gave me held true. The building was pretty obvious from the outside, and I could tell that this is where many adventurers and the like would hang out. As I walked inside, I was immediately floored by the scent of Alcohol and grilled beef and pork. There weren't as many people here as I expected, but I imagined that it got pretty packed at night.

"Hey, I don't recognize you. You must be new here." A rather buff looking man with a Mohawk grabbed my attention "what's with those weird clothes you're wearing."

"Actually, I am new here. Looking to become an adventurer in fact." I respond. Honestly, I couldn't do better than that? I was practically screaming for help.

"Is that so? You think you can take on the Devil King's army huh?"

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

The man let out a resounding laugh "You've got guts kid! I gotta say!" He continued laughing for a little while longer "In that case, welcome to the gates of hell kid!" I didn't know how to respond to be honest. Thankfully he just continued laughing and I walked off.

Over along the wall was what appeared to be the receptionist desks. They looked more like the bank teller desks from the movies. There was only one person working at them though. A young woman with blond hair and a great rack. When I walked up to her desk she seemed preoccupied with something else behind the desk and she didn't notice me walk up. Not that there was much to notice. I walked rather quietly and didn't have a very impressive figure to speak of if I'm honest. I cleared my throat to get her attention "ahem,"

"Oh excuse me," she started as she now noticed me "what can I do for you sir?"

"I'm actually looking to sign up with the guild." I state. I wasn't much for antics and preferred to get right to the point. Not to mention it was fairly difficult to concentrate. Her shirt must've been too small or something because it was very revealing. I mean, she had a lot to reveal too.

"Wonderful!" she exclaimed "The first thing I'm going to need is a registration fee."

"f-fee?" No one told me about a fee!

"why yes sir. Is there a problem?"

"Uh...I just didn't expect that is all. Uh, you mind giving me a few minutes?" She nods at me and I walk over to an unoccupied table to sit down. How exactly was I supposed to get money for the registration fee? I decide that I would wait for a little while and think through it. Why wasn't I given anything to start me off with? You would usually get started off with some basic supplies or something! I looked down at my new swords that I had now taken off my back and set to the side. I wonder how much those would go for at the market...

Wait, what was I saying? I couldn't sell them! I would never get anything else like these ever! I was honestly ashamed at myself for considering something so quickly. I would have to think of something else. Something else turning out to be the fact that most new adventurers slept in the stables. A fact I began to realize as I talked with other adventurers about what it was like starting out.

I sat at the table for about ten to fifteen minutes until a familiar voice came out from behind me and took me a little by surprise. "Colby!" I pop my head up. Sure enough it was my best friend "I thought I'd find you here."

"Danny!" I exclaimed. I got up from the table and gave him a welcoming hug. Finally someone else that I could hang around with. I instinctively barrage him with various questions "Are you ok? What kind of thing did you get from Aqua? Do you have any money for signing up with the guild?" honestly even I was overwhelmed a little bit by all my questions.

He responded genuinely "I'm fine. I got the ability to forge anything, and anything I make is of legendary quality. I'm broke, and I think we can solve that pretty quickly." I nod back at him as we sit down at the table. He was always pretty good when it came to planning ahead "I'm just glad we're here so we should be able to work together now. In order to get some money to actually do something, we need to get some jobs." Again I nodded and agreed. Danny's sensible attitude never failed him "Do you recognize this world? And what did you get from Aqua?"

I excitedly pull out my swords to show him "I asked for these." Danny looks them over, almost like he was examining them, sizing them up "What did you mean when you asked 'do I recognize this world?'"

"Well this is literally the world of Konosuba, that anime I told you about." Instantly, a lot of stuff makes sense now, like the fact that Aqua and literally everything else around me looked like it came straight out of an anime. Because it literally was! This was literally a dream come true.

He explained to me that he already knew the series of events that would transpire, at least up to the second season of the show and that because of this, we had a huge advantage over everyone else around us. We were both so excited by what was ahead of us that neither of us noticed a maid attempting to take our drink order. Eventually Danny noticed her.

"I think we're fine right." now he told her and she moved on to another table.

We talked for another thirty or so minutes as we decided on what jobs we should take.

"Well I think it's pretty obvious that I should be able to easily get a job at a local blacksmith." he stated finally. The skills he chose almost made it seem like he was cheating really.

"I remember seeing a library on my way here. I am pretty good around books as well as organizing. It probably wouldn't pay much but it's definitely worth a shot!" I exclaim. I had done file sorting at an office job once, but that was as close as I got to anything like library work. Still I though It was worth a shot.

* * *

I entered the library quietly, as you're supposed to in Libraries, although I'm not sure if it would have really mattered as there was no one in sight except for who I assumed was the librarian. He was rather tall and appeared to be in his mid-forties. He wore a long green robe and square glasses. His hair was brown in color and looked quite messy. Obviously he was someone who wasn't much for appearances.

"Excuse me," I say as I walk up to him.

"Yes?" he responds, in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"I was wondering if maybe there's some work around here I could do? Nothing huge, just something I can do to earn bit of spending money for the day."

He looked at me over his glasses "At a library? That's certainly an odd place for someone like you to seek work," I thought it was an odd place for anyone to seek work, yet here you are "but now that you mention it, there are some things you could do for me around here. The pay wouldn't exactly be substantial but it wouldn't be stingy either." I accept his offer and get to work. It mostly consisted of sweeping, dusting, organizing various books. It wasn't exactly enjoyable work, but it was better than other jobs I had in the past.

Surprisingly, people did come through frequently enough, although there were never really more than two people in the building at a time, excluding myself and the librarian. Eventually he ran out of work for me to do and thus gave me my days wages. It wasn't a lot, only 120, but I figured it was a fine pay considering. I made my leave and returned to the guild.

I got to the guild a little while before Danny did, so I actually ended up taking a short nap. Flattering, I know, but after all that had happened today, not to mention the monotony and silence of the library, I was beat. The worst part was what I had to look forward to as a bed.

I woke up approximately thirty or so minutes afterwards and Danny still hadn't gotten back yet. Although it wasn't but about five minutes after my nap that he got back, so it was probably for the better that he didn't know I was sleeping. Being later than it was when we first got here, the guild hall was much busier than before, so the maids were kept busy and didn't really bother us.

* * *

"How did it go?" I asked Danny as he sat down.

"Really Well," he responded "I made this sword and he paid me for making a few other weapons, and pieces of armor. What about you?" I stared at his sword for a bit. Back home, my brother had done blacksmithing as a hobby and he got pretty good, but nowhere near this good, and I didn't even know that much about it.

"Well, what I did mostly felt like housework, and a got the pay to match to be honest." We counted out our wares. Compared to my measly 120, Danny made a fortune. 1,230 Eris. In total my money barely made a difference! We decided that for now, my money would go towards food while Danny's was saved for things that we would need in the future, except of course for the registration fee.

We walked up to the receptionist desk where she is cleaning it. "Um Excuse me miss? I didn't get your name earlier." Danny states.

The receptionist turns around to us, similarly to me, she looks rather tired "My name is Luna," she stated "wait..." she recognized us when she turned around "Oh! Do you have enough money to cover the expenses?" she asks

"Yes we do!" smiles Danny.

"Alright, all you have to do is put your hand over the orb and it will provide you with an adventurer's card," explained Luna "This card will keep track of your stats, skills, level, and skill points. As you level up you obtain skill points that can be used to purchase skills that can help you in combat." So it was basically like a character window or something? Cool. She also gave us a list of different classes we could potentially choose based on our stats.

"Colby, you can go first," said Danny. I walked up to the desk and placed my hand over the blue orb on the table. Upon doing so, the orb begins to shine with a soft blue light. Three rings that hovered below the orb in a funnel shape gathered what looked like some sort of magic, then a laser shot out from the rings and made markings on the adventurer's card. Once it was done Luna took the card.

Luna looked over the card "hmmm, looks like most of your stats are mostly a little above average, with the exception of intelligence, which is almost max," Really!? Holy crap, that seemed awesome "Perhaps a mage class would suit you?" she finished. I was a little upset by this. I didn't really mind magic, but it definitely was not my preference.

"Is there a class that dual wields?" I ask.

"Yes, you do qualify for the scout class, but are you sure you want to-"

"I want it!" I interrupted.

"Very well." she responded, and wrote down my class. I was now an official adventurer and could actually do official quests! I almost couldn't contain myself.

Next up was Danny. He put his hand over the blue orb which made his card out for him. Again Luna read the card out "It looks like your agility is below average, however all your other stats are a little above average, especially strength, and your intelligence is almost max. I would suggest a mage class but..."

Danny stopped her "I don't want that, after looking over the classes I want the arms master class." Luna suddenly gasped, and several adventurers turned their heads towards us. "What the heck is so special about the arms master class!" I thought to myself, as it now felt like we had just done something very taboo.

"The arms master is very difficult to master," Luna states "that's why it's almost on par with crusaders, arch mages and..."

Again Danny cut her off "I know, I know, but I know I'll be able to use this class effectively."

several adventurers had come up to greet us and slapped us on the back. "You two are going to make an interesting team!" one of the men said. Me and Danny both looked up at him. I recognized him as the man I had first talked to when I entered the guild the first time. "Two damage dealers, but no healers or mages? It's going to be interesting!" I looked at Danny who now was looking down at the ground somewhat bewildered. I knew then what he was thinking about. Then the man piped up again "But don't worry about that! You're adventurers now, why not celebrate!" Danny and I were both into that idea, and so we did.

We had enough money just from what I earned to have a decent meal. We also tried our hand at some alcohol as well. Considering the time and place, we figured there was a first time for everything. Eventually we left the guild hall and made our way to where we would be staying the nights for quite a while...the stables.

* * *

At the stables I could tell that something was bothering my friend. "you ok Danny?" I asked him. He looked at the hay bed we would be using in a depressed manner. " _understandable_ " I thought to myself.

"I just realized," he began "we'll never see our families again." at this I made the same realization.

"Yea, but they think we're dead anyway, we might as well make the most out of our situation right?" I look at him, trying to cheer him up, and he visibly forces a smile.

"Yea, you're right, let's do out best out there, ok?" he states enthusiastically. I couldn't help but laugh. I can tell he feels a little hurt though so I explain.

"You sounded just like someone from an anime just then!" I laugh, to which he smiles.

"Well, when in Rome right?" He responds. We can't help but laugh a while longer.

At last the atmosphere died down so I could now appreciate my "comfortable" bed of hay...that probably had a number of insects crawling around inside of it...I then decide that it's probably better not to think about such things. I instead think about tomorrow, and what it might bring.


	2. I don't like frogs

Technically speaking, I knew my way around a sword. Although I never had any formal training back home, I did collect swords of many kinds and trained with them on straw dummies and similar training machines. The techniques I learned were mostly from watching historical reenactments and videos on YouTube. Granted, I didn't ACTUALLY know how to properly use a sword, but being in the type of world we were in, that didn't really matter much.

Especially when you work in a library.

It had been a few days since we got here, and thus far most of the money I made went to paying for meals so we could eat. 120 Eris a day from working at the library just about covered our meal expenses and them some. I didn't really like working in the library, especially when there were big quests and adventures to go on. That thought nearly brought a tear to my eye.

"I've received some more books in to add to the collection today. Be sure to put them up." the librarian said. I had learned his name was Gilderoy, which I thought was an awesome name. While he was a very pragmatic person he was also pretty fair. He didn't just shove all of his work on to me while he sat behind the counter and read some books from his private collection. I had also learned that he harbored strong feelings against adventurers who didn't respect literature.

While I was putting some books on one of the upper shelf's, someone called up to me from the ground "Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help me find a book."

I looked down towards the person, who appeared to be a young girl "Yes, give me a moment." I say as I climb down the ladder. The girl was quite scantily clad. She had silvery hair, purple eyes, and a scar just beneath her right eye. She also wore a scarf and a short green cape "What is it you're looking for?"

"I'm looking for something that might be able to tell me about the various traps and such that could be found in the dungeons around here. I'm an adventurer, you see."

"An adventurer!" I exclaim "I actually signed up with the guild as a scout just the other day!" I state excitedly.

"A scout huh? Well I'm a thief so that means we actually have quite a bit in common." That seemed kind of strange to me at first.

"Interesting." I state "But before I forget I think I know what book you might be looking for." I remembered that I had seen a book about dungeons around the area of Axel, though I wasn't sure why she would want it. Most of the dungeons anywhere nearby would most likely have already been pillaged. After looking through a few shelf's of books, I found what I thought she might be looking for. The book was titled "Atlas of Dungeons and Castles surround the area of Axel: by Prof. Gilderoy Alondite" I looked back at Gilderoy, who was now sitting comfortably at his desk reading one of his books. "Here you go, I think this might be what you're looking for."

"Thank you, this is exactly what I need!" She stated thankfully. I wanted to attempt to pick her brain a little before she left though, and especially try and find out what she meant by Scouts and Thief's being similar classes.

"Um, before you go, I was wondering if I could ask you a few things about being an adventurer." Gosh, I swear, if Charisma was a stat here it would be my lowest one by far.

"What'd you have in mind?"

"Specifically just some pointers for someone who's just starting out. Like tips and tricks. Also what you meant by scouts and thief's being similar."

She looked at me for a little bit, then smiled brightly "Tell ya what. You buy me a drink, and I'll give you some pointers, deal." A bit early for a drink wasn't it? It'd be fine if I did leave of course, considering I had finished all my major work that Gilderoy had me do just moments ago.

"Sure, It's a deal!" I state cheerily "Whats your name?"

"Chris"

I walk up to the counter and get my day's wages from Gilderoy, and we head back to the guild hall. While there we spend a few minutes drinking while Chris tells me about leveling and skills. Apparently, because the scout and thief classes are so similar in style, many of the skills are shared between them, such as the steal skill.

We went over several of the skills that I could learn early on as I had some points to use starting out. Sure enough, the steal skill was one of them, however I felt like because of the particular roll I would be taking, something more suitable would be better early on. She pointed to one on my card "what about this one?" The skill she pointed out was called burst, and it could double my speed for a short time. Perfect for what I needed! I spent the points, and we headed outside so I could test it out.

We decided that the best way to test it would be to time how fast I could clear a certain distance. We didn't actually measure it out, so I don't remember the exact distance.

"Ok, I'll stand over here, and you run over there." she stated, pointing to where she wanted me to stand "Now run at me as fast as you can without using burst and we'll see how fast you can go." I ready myself, and start running when she calls out to go "12 seconds. Now go back and start again, this time using burst." When she gives the signal, I call out burst and can instantly tell a difference at my speed and feel much faster "6 seconds, Impressive!" it worked exactly as it said it would. Now if only I could go back home and challenge Usain Bolt to a foot race.

After that, we parted ways and I went to find Danny

I found him working at the blacksmith shop he told me about. At the time he was beating on a large plate of metal made out of what appeared to be bronze. He didn't notice me walk up. "Hello sir, what can I help you with?" A dwarf called out to me, getting my attention. This must be Borthul.

"Yes, I'm actually here to see my friend, Danny." Borthul Walks back to where Danny is working and tells him I'm here to see him. He walks out front and greets me.

"I'm actually just here to see what you've been up to. Being a blacksmith, your job is certainly more interesting than mine!" I state jokingly. Of course, we were adventurers, so these were only side jobs, but they put food on the table, so we weren't complaining. He explains to me that he's fashioning his armor that he'll use on quests. Apparently it'd take a few days for him to complete it, but he was getting pretty close now.

By now it was getting pretty late so I told him that I was going to head on up to the stables to get some shut eye, so he wouldn't need to try and find me when he was done. To be honest, I really just wanted to get an early start on getting to sleep because trying to get to sleep on those piles of hay was an utter nightmare in-and-of itself.

* * *

The rest of the week wasn't anything spectacular, as working in the library was not what you'd call riveting. Today, however, was a special day. Me and Danny had finally gotten to a point where we felt prepared enough to take a real quest. The plan was for me to go on ahead and scout the area, and Danny would meet up with me at the fields at the west side of Axel.

Beforehand I went to pick up some gear to start out with. Some light armor, more appropriate clothing, that sort of thing. Danny offered to make me some armor, but I already had some legendary equipment, and while I'm sure what he could've me would have likely been leagues better than anything else around here, I preferred to start from the bottom. Excluding my swords of course.

The area around Axel was really quite scenic. Lush and green rolling hills, large areas with forests, scattered farms here and there. I wasn't here to sight see though, unfortunately. I had been watching closely for giant toads. Apparently it was their mating season, so they were supposed to be out and about and easy to find. I found that to be true, although they're weren't as many as I expected. I spotted two of them somewhat close to each other and decided that they would make for some easy targets, then I notice Danny heading towards me.

He had finally finished his armor he told me he was working on. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. He seemed to base it off the armor of a Greek spartan, just without the head decoration on top "Impressive, you look ready for battle!" I exclaim "Just like a spartan!"

"I know right!" he responded to me. He inquired why I wasn't wearing a helmet, but I simply told him I didn't want to. The scout class wasn't really meant for a lot of armor, and a helmet just felt like it would hinder my field of vision, something that I felt was important for being a scout.

When he reached the top of the hill, we spotted the two toads we would attack. They shouldn't be too hard to deal with. Almost as if it was instinctive, Danny starts explaining the plan, of course there wasn't much of a plan considering they were just toads. This didn't surprise me, however, as he had always been very good at strategy games back home. He almost always won any game we would play.

When he gives the signal we both start to run, but almost instantly stop as the sight before us took us both by surprise. The two toads which had been staring at each other had now jumped into each other, but instead of fighting each other they were...uh...moving they're bodies in a manor that suggested love making. Sure enough, slimy bubbles began to appear at the bottom of them. Danny looks back at me, just as bewildered as I was, but then begins to charge the toads. I decide that calling out my burst skill might be enough to grab their attention.

Thankfully, as we both charge, the toads separate from each other, understandably annoyed that their baby-making session had been interrupted. Now I can say for certain that I didn't know what the genitals of a giant toad looked like before this encounter. I can also say that I would much rather not know, now that I do.

Because the (apparent) female was the furthest away of the two, and I was the fastest, she was the one I was targeting. NO, not like that! When I reached the toad, I dug my swords into it's chest, and almost like it was instinctive, I began to climb up the toad, dragging my swords all the way with me through it's body. When I reached the top, I buried the swords into the toad's head, and it lifelessly slumped over. I removed the swords from the toad's head and smirked "eat your heart out Kirito." I looked down at myself and noticed that I was now completely covered in toad slime and blood.

Looking over at the toad Danny attacked, I realized that I couldn't see him and got a little worried. I then noticed a stream of blood run down the toad's stomach, which then burst into a gushing stream of blood. The toad slumped over to reveal Danny standing on the other side.

I walked over to him "We don't need to mention the fact that they were..." I started, but Danny cut me off.

"They were rivals fighting each other for a mate." I decided to go with that, and hoped it would burn the less-than-desirable image out of my head. I don't care what you may be into, Toad sex is not fun to watch.

* * *

Late that night I was rudely awoken by a sharp pain on my head. I sat up and noticed a rock laying on the pile of hay that I was using as a bed. I looked around, but didn't see anything. I then heard someone from outside "psst. Hey scout, come here. Outside the window." I peer outside and was met with a familiar, yet surprising face.

"Chris?"

"Hey how's it going."

"What are you doing here?" I looked behind me to make sure Danny was asleep. Thankfully he was.

"I came to find you. Listen, I need your help with something." Given the fact that she helped me earlier, I figured that I should at least hear her out.

"What is it, and why couldn't it have waited 'till morning?"

"Because I didn't want anyone to hear us." She then motioned to Danny "Is he asleep?"

"Yea, he is. You should be fine."

"Ok, remember that guy you worked for at the library?"

"Gilderoy? Of course, it was just this week that I worked for him."

"Well, he's taken something from a dungeon that I'd like to get my hands on. A special talisman that can instantly recover a person's stamina and magic an infinite amount of times." That was definitely something that could be useful and worth stealing.

"What makes you so sure he has it?"

"Out of all the maps that I've seen, his atlas is the only one with a map that includes the chamber where the talisman was kept. Honestly I didn't even need to go check and make sure it was gone."

"Well what does any of this have to do with me?" I ask quizzically. She smirks a little.

"Remember how I told you that scouts and thieves are similar classes?" I nod to her "Well scouts have much better agility than most thieves by default, and therefore can get around more quickly, not to mention you're the only other person in town who could help me pull this off."

I would be lying if I said this didn't sound exciting, but I felt bad about Danny. I didn't really want to leave my friend out. "Can't we bring him along?" I ask.

"No, his armor makes too much noise and is too easily noticeable." She responds surprisingly brashly. She usually seemed much more cheery than what she was now.

"Ok, what do you need me to do?"

"Meet me at the front gate of Axel in about three days near midnight. We'll go over the plan then." At that she disappeared into the night.

* * *

The next day, me and Danny found ourselves searching for quests at the quest board. We were looking for a new quest to take on, as it wouldn't be long before we finished the toad quest.

Suddenly our quest searching was interrupted by a pleasant sounding female voice "Hello there!" we turned around and were greeted by one of the most pleasant smiles I think I've ever seen. The girl had long orange hair, green eyes, and, given her height, some pretty decent C cups. She was only a little shorter than I was. Needless to say, she was pretty attractive. She was wearing plain brown robes and a brown droopy wizards hat. In her hand she held a whit staff with gold trim and a gold sphere at the top "Are you the scout and arms master that put this up yesterday?" she inquired as she held up a piece of paper. _Are you my soulmate?_ I thought to myself "My name is Autumn, what are your names?"

Yesterday, when we got back from our as-yet unfinished quest Danny decided to put up a notice that we were in need of a healer for our group. I was a little surprised that someone had taken an interest already. Danny introduced us to her, and while they talked I went to get a short drink.

From what I could see, she seemed very excited about the prospect of joining our party. Apparently she was a priest and knew quite a lot for her level. Before I barely begin to get into my drink Danny gets my attention. "Alright then, we're going on a quest!"

"We are?" Autumn and I both state in unison. I had kind of figured that he would at least want to see what she could do before we actually go on a quest.

"Yes, we're going to finish that toad quest from yesterday. We only need one kill to complete it, and I think it would be better to see what our new acquaintance can do firsthand." He confirms with a lot of confidence. I nod at him, and Autumn jumps excitedly.

I looked down at my drink I had just payed for and decided to try and finish it quickly and get my money's worth...bad idea.

* * *

Danny sent me on ahead to scout around on the east side of Axel. There appeared to be a lot more toads out today than usual. They also seemed to be mostly in tight groups, which wasn't ideal. I decided that the best course of action would be to get one of the toad's attention and have it follow me back to where I would meet Danny and Autumn.

Apparently, it wasn't easy to get a toad's attention when they were all sort of in close proximity of each other. Waving my arms, yelling at them. Eventually I just threw a rock at one, and finally got it's attention. It started bounding towards me and that was my queue.

I ran the toad back to where Autumn and Danny were. When they saw me, they also saw the toad following me. Danny got into his battle stance and autumn stepped behind him. I ran up to Danny and stood beside him, ready to attack the pursuing toad.

By now, I had gotten pretty tired from all the running around I had been doing. "I could really use some more stamina right now!" I call out to Autumn.

"Right!" Autumn exclaimed and cast "restore stamina" on me. The rush of energy felt pretty good, and I instantly felt more energized.

"Give me a damage boost!" Danny requested, and autumn cast another spell onto Danny that made him deal more damage. Probably a bit overkill for a toad, but it was a good test to see what Autumn could do I suppose. Danny charged at the toad, which had stopped and opened it's mouth to attack him. It launched it's tongue out towards him, but he dodged it and cut part of it off with his sword. When he reached the toad, he attacked it's stomach, not with his sword like I expected, but with his shield, almost like he was Captain America but without throwing it.

To my surprise, his shield turned out to be quite sharp on the sides, as he managed to cut straight through the toad's stomach, which began to bleed profusely. He was definitely making good on the term "Arms Master". I didn't know many people who could use a shield with a blade for an edge.

Danny looked back and became visibly annoyed by something. "Is it supposed to to stay connected to both of us?" he asked Autumn. I looked back and now noticed a green magical line that was connected to me, and a red one that made a connection with Danny, both of which lead back to her staff.

"Well you see, this staff is a family heirloom, and while it lowers the power of any buffs or heals I provide, it can be applied to multiple party members at once."

"Well, better than nothing I suppose." He said, annoyed. I didn't really understand what his problem was. I thought that was a pretty good skill for us to utilize.

Suddenly Danny's eyes widened "Behind you!" he yelled. Autumn and I turned around and saw a giant toad bounding towards us, almost within striking distance. I got into an attack stance, but before I could attack I noticed Autumn chanting something. A blue magic circle had appeared between her and the toad. "Light Beam!" she yelled, but instead of a cool magic laser, the magic circle made a loud cracking sound and burst into soot and smoke, covering Autumn from head to toe. I was just about to ask her what happened when the toad shot out it's tongue and grabbed her.

Autumn screamed as the toad pulled her into it's mouth. Her legs were now sticking out of it's mouth, and the connections between us and her staff had been broken. I immediately activated my "boost" skill and ran towards the toad, lunging at it, and burying my swords into it's stomach. Blood spewed from it's stomach as it slumped over, dead.

Danny and I dragged Autumn out of the toad's mouth. She looked bewildered at the fact that she almost became frog food, but jumped up with a grateful smile on her face. "Thanks guys, you really saved me there!" she exclaimed. Me and Danny were both distracted by the fact that her robes were now almost falling off her, and she was completely covered in slime. She noticed our odd stares and giggled innocently "guess I got pretty messy huh?" Oh god...my heart.

I shook my head rapidly, trying to focus "Are you ok Autumn?" We started on our way back to Axel to get cleaned up.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, nothing a little water won't fix." As we walked through Axel, I became uncomfortable at all the dirty looks we were getting. Two men with a girl covered in slime didn't exactly look like something innocent apparently. Shame on them though, they're the ones judging without knowing anything. We reached the bath houses where me and Danny waited on her to get cleaned up. Afterwards, we treated her to dinner.

* * *

At the guild hall, we all ordered our food and started eating and talking. "Autumn, when the toad attacked you earlier, you created a spell, but all it did was cover you in soot, what was that?" Danny asked.

"Oh that?" Autumn started "Well, I'm not really good when it comes to complicated spells. They tend to literally blow up in my face. I can really only do the basic spells well." I didn't know what Danny was thinking, ti be honest. Personally, I liked Autumn. I also didn't see any reason not for her to be in our party. She was still new and learning, but I was sure she would be able to improve.

After we ate Danny turned in the toad quest, and we parted ways with Autumn. We had agreed to meet her at the guild in the morning. We got to the stables and laid down on our straw bed and discussed our new companion "I'm not sure about her." Danny said.

"Why not? I think she'd fit right in with us." I respond.

"Well, the fact that she can't do complicated spells bugs me. We may need her to be able to do that in the near future."

"Well you heard what she said, she's still learning. She'll get there soon enough."

"And who's going to help her? Neither of us use magic or know how to use it properly." He did make a good point, annoyingly.

"Well, we still need a healer, regardless. Of course, you are the leader, so whatever you say goes."

"Well, I'm not going to say she can't join. You're right about one thing, we need a healer." And with that we both decided to get some shut-eye.

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

 **Hoped you all enjoyed this new chapter. I wanted to make an effort to add in a few different aspects in this one as opposed to the previous chapter. My goal was really more dialogue, so I think I achieved that.**

 **As for the rating, I know it may not feel like it needs an M rating right now, but I do expect to achieve that later on. I also felt like it was good to have that there because "Blessings of God on these Poor Fools" has an M rating, and I felt like because it's best to read them both, it'd be a good idea to keep the rating the same.**

 **As for the story, I do intend to add in chapters that aren't almost straight copies from the other story. It's really meant to be both a side story and a second perspective, adding in little details here and there.**

 **Anyways, please leave a review if you enjoyed, and constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks for reading.**


	3. An odd party, to be sure

"How much farther is it?" Autumn groaned.

"Not far now." I assure her "According to this map, we should be getting pretty close."

"It's definitely a lot further out than I originally thought." Danny states. We had taken a quest to clear an old abandoned fortress "I guess it makes sense. Being so far out probably means that not as many adventurers have bothered to make the trek to get what loot may-or-may-not be here as opposed to moving on elsewhere."

"I think it's wonderful!" Darkness states "Taking a long trek with your fellow adventurers to slay enemies in a dungeon! How exciting." Darkness was a new member we had picked up this morning. We were bringing her along to see what she could do, and see how she performed with the team. I was skeptical of her, but Danny seemed confident, so that was enough for me. Personally, I thought he just brought her along as eye candy, but that's a different discussion altogether.

"My legs are starting to hurt!" Autumn whined.

"Do you want me to carry you?" I reply jokingly, but to my surprise she gave a soft 'uh huh' and climbed onto my back, piggy-back style. Guess we're doing this now. I gave the map to Danny who gave me a smug grin. Thankfully she was pretty light, as you would expect of a girl of her size.

As we crossed a hill we finally came into view of the fortress. We were still quite a ways away from it though. "So what kind of enemies do you think we might find in there?" I ask Danny.

"I honestly can't say. Neither one of us has taken on a dungeon before. Darkness, you're probably the most experienced out of all of us, any ideas?"

Darkness blushed a little as we looked back at her "Well, uh, from my experience, in a place like this we'd probably run into monsters such as undead." She almost seemed to get excited. Definitely odd.

"Are undead tough enemies?" Danny inquires. I could tell that he wanted to learn as much as he could about dungeons before we actually went in. Unfortunately, I had a feeling that Darkness wouldn't be able to tell us much.

"It depends on the dungeon really." She replies "Most of the dungeons around Axel aren't particularly tough, given that it's the town of beginners. However, there's no way to be sure until we enter and find out for ourselves."

At last arriving at the fortress we decide to sit down and have a short break from walking before we enter, all except Darkness anyways, who seems almost completely unaffected by the walk. "Doesn't seem too big, I think I can handle it." she comments. Personally, I thought she was just acting tough. I don't know why, but she seemed to enjoy showing off her metal, making sure everyone thought she was the person for the job.

The fortress that lay in front of us was made completely from stone, and had two large double doors that almost seemed to invite a battering ram to come knocking. It's design reminded me of castles I had seen when I visited Europe. Of course I didn't really know much about castle architecture, but what I did know was that their design was largely influenced by their location and time period. That's the way it worked back on earth anyways, no reason it couldn't work the same way here.

"Wow Darkness, you sure are brave!" Autumn exclaims in awe.

"Thank you for thinking so. It is the calling of a crusader to protect and serve others." Darkness replies. Well at least she was taking this whole crusader thing seriously...I guess.

"Well, now that we're all rested up, is everyone ready to go in?" Danny asks. We all nod our heads in reply and continue forward, drawing our weapons in anticipation for the fight to come.

* * *

"Danny!" I yelled out. He and Darkness had gotten behind as we were moving through the dungeon, and seemed focused on something else. Me and Autumn were moving along fine until we ran into four more undead, this time two of them were archers and two were swordsman. As Darkness and Danny rounded the corner they got into a defensive stance along with me and Autumn.

"There we go!" Exclaimed Autumn as blue magical line connected to all of us "This should give us all a defensive bonus to help with those archers." Autumn was definitely an invaluable member to our team now, and while she may be a bit of an airhead, she definitely seemed to be competent when she needed to be.

"Thanks Autumn!" Danny said "Alright same positions as before, Autumn you stay out of range of those archers. Don't worry about the one's with swords, we'll take care of them." Autumn did as she was told and hid in the doorway so the archers couldn't hit her.

The two swordsman charged for me and Danny while the archers seemed fixated on Darkness. I was thankful too. Even if they both attacked either me or Danny, we could take them out easy. It was the archers that were the problem.

The undead that attacked me lunged his sword at me. It was easy to dodge it and I managed to make quick work of him as I slipped back behind him and decapitated him. I didn't see Danny take out his target, but I'm sure it was just as easy for him.

I turned around to see Darkness starting her way up the stairs to the platform that the archers were on at the end of the hall. Unfortunately I turned around a split second too late as the archers had now targeted me and Danny. While Danny's armor protected him, I wasn't so lucky, as an arrow struck me in the arm before I could react. I reared in pain as I hit the ground out of shock. How the heck did the just shrug this off in anime?

"Colby!" Autumn yelled as she ran out of cover to my side "You're hurt!" she cast a healing spell on me as she tried to pull the arrow out. One of the archers tried to take a shot at her, but I grabbed her and pulled her out of the way.

"What are you doing! You're supposed to stay out of range of the archers!" I snap at her. I pulled her back into cover while Danny and Darkness dealt with the archers.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't just sit by while one of my party members was hurt." She certainly was persistent. I didn't like it, but I was glad that she wanted to do her part.

"Autumn? Colby!" Danny called out from ahead "The coast is clear, we'll regroup up ahead."

We walked upstairs to meet Danny an Darkness and Autumn began treating my wounds. "Don't worry Colby, you're going to be just fine. This is nothing for a priest like me!" She exclaimed proudly. She took the arrow out of my arm, which fucking HURT, and started to bandage me up.

"Uh, Autumn...Where did you get these bandages?" I asked. I didn't remember anybody bringing any bandages.

"Oh these? I just found them laying around. They seemed fine enough to use." Needless to say, I decided to make a mental note to always bring bandages whenever we went on a quest.

After Autumn patched me up, we proceeded forward through the dungeon. Eventually we came to what appeared to be the main chamber of the dungeon. The room was excessively large, with high ceilings and a long wooden table with skeletons seated around it. Definitely something I wouldn't have wanted to walk in on back home, especially in a place like this. "This must have been the meeting room." I say, thinking aloud. At the end of the room, up a short flight of stairs, sat what looked like a throne. Danny slowly walked up to it. Nobody had realized it at the time, but the whole time we were all walking slowly, and didn't say much. Even when I made my observation, I said it pretty quietly. It was almost like we were afraid of waking up the skeletons around the table.

Suddenly, while Danny was walking up to the throne, a tall dark figure suddenly appeared out of the shadows. It wielded a giant battleaxe that it slammed down into the ground in front of Danny. This new foe wasn't like the rest of the undead. He stood at least seven feet tall, though it looked like it could have been eight. His armor was much heavier looking than what the rest of the undead wore. He swung at Danny, slamming him in the center of his chest plate and knocking down the stairs onto his back. Me and Darkness rushed to his side to aid him while Autumn cast another defensive spell on us. This new foe was certainly intimidating.

Danny began barking orders to us. It was obvious that he was frustrated at being thrown around like a rag-doll. Darkness was to be a distraction while me and Danny flanked him, waiting for an opening. Thankfully, for whatever reason, the monsters seemed to prefer to attack Darkness as opposed to me, Danny, or Autumn. I admittedly got excited, as this was the perfect opportunity to try out my new move 'X Strike' on a proper target.

He seemed preoccupied with Darkness so me and Danny made our move. Danny attacked his legs, and I jumped over him and used 'X Strike' on the undead's head. The undead slumped over, it's legs now separated from it's body from Danny's attack. It was unclear which attack actually killed him, but Danny seemed to believe that it was a combination of both and that my attack was most likely the killing blow. It was disappointing, really. He didn't really put up much of a fight, and I was kind of embarrassed for being concerned in the first place.

* * *

The dungeon had a surprisingly good haul, considering it's location. Now headed home I decided that it would be a good time to ask Autumn how magic worked in this world. "Say Autumn, what can you tell me about magic?" She looked at me quizzically.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"Like, I'm not a magic user, and never really learned much about it. I was just curious to know how it worked, ya know, what spells can someone learn and when can they learn them?"

"OH!" she giggled "Well, similarly to most skills, what kind of magic you can learn is dependent on your class. There aren't really any spells that require a certain level, but using a skill that requires more magic than you can output can quickly eat away your vitality, even to the point of passing out in the most extreme measures."

Well that was certainly different. Why would you be allowed to learn skills if you aren't qualified for them? I suppose having some sort of trump card would be nice, some kind of last ditch effort super powerful spell to cast. Still, it seemed pretty stupid to me. "So what happens if you do use one of these spells before you have the necessary stats? Do you have to sit out for a while before you can use it again?" I ask.

"No, in most cases, if you overexert yourself you're usually out for the rest of the day unless someone gives you a vitality boost. You could even do the same with their mana pool so they could use their magic again."

"Have you ever tried to use a spell like that before?"

"No, I don't really like to put my points into my skills unless I can use them multiple times. Not to mention I probably couldn't even use them anyways!" She seemed a bit sad now. I felt bad for her. I know that she definitely wanted to help out as much as possible and not being able to do complex spells was definitely something that seemed to bug her.

"Don't worry Autumn! I'm sure that you'll get better at casting spells soon enough." My attempt to cheer her up seemed to work, as she began to skip around again.

"Thanks!" She exclaimed, now her cheery self again "I'll definitely try my hardest to get better!" I smile at her, happy to make her feel better.

Darkness and Danny had been walking ahead of us, talking about something else. There was something that I wanted to find out about Darkness, though, and now seemed like the best time to ask her. I walk up ahead to catch up with them "Hey Darkness!" I call out.

"Yes?" she responds. Both her and Danny stopped and looked back.

"I was wondering, since we're already on our way back, how about a race."

"A race?" both her and Danny say unanimously.

"Yea, why not? We both seem pretty fast, but I was wondering which of us might be faster. So how about it?" She seemed to consider my offer, then accepts. I had the sneaking suspicion that she actually didn't have trouble deciding though, as she seemed rather excited about it.

"Where are we racing to?" she asks.

"Since we're headed there now, how about the guild?"

Well this should be interesting." Danny states "I almost feel like I should put money on it."

"No, no money," I say putting my hand up "I just want to see which of us is faster. You can tell us when to go, though."

"This is so exciting!" Autumn claps. Me and Darkness ready ourselves for the race. It was certainly going to be a long one, as we were still pretty far from Axel.

"Darkness, do you want to take your armor off? It might make it easier for you." I ask. I was someone who preferred a fair race, so I wanted Darkness at her best. Her face turned visibly red as I asked this though.

"Colby, how forward!" She exclaims "We may have defeated a dungeon together, but I hardly think something like that is appropriate, especially given the current company!"

"No! I didn't mean- ughhh." I swear, I had no idea what went on in that head of hers, and I felt like I was better off not knowing "Just start the countdown Danny." Darkness and I readied ourselves, and when Danny gave the word, we both started running.

At first we started out pretty close, but I quickly got ahead of her. I could hear Autumn and Danny cheering us both on. It was just as I thought, I was faster than her, although admitedly, not quite that much faster than I initially thought. She managed to keep up with me for a while, but I eventually left her in the dust. After a while of running I finally came in to view of Axel, but although I was tired from running so much, I wasn't going to stop and rest until I had gotten to the guild. I knew the story of the tortoise and the hare, and I certainly wasn't going to let that happen to me.

* * *

When I reached the guild I trudged in, tired and gasping for breath. I pictured the image of a good bed, but right now, even that pile of hay seemed comfortable now. I had quickly come to appreciate things like that in this world.

"Well you look completely tuckered out!" One of the adventurers said as I sat down at a table big enough for our party. "What's got you so tired, huh?"

I had ordered a water to help me, but I was having difficulty forming my words "Race...Darkness...Guild" My panting was starting to slow down now that I could rest, but it was still hard to talk.

"Gahahah!" The adventurer laughed loudly "Seems like you won, eh? One round on me." I was thankful, but turned down his offer. Booze was one of the last things I needed right now.

Not long after, Darkness walked in. "That was exhilarating! You certainly are fast Colby!" she said.

"I may be fast, but you could definitely outrun me if the distance was long enough. You don't even seem tired!" I was still trying to catch my breath. Water certainly helped me, but I had never run that fast for that long before. Darkness on the other hand just seemed like she had just gotten back from a short jog. I wondered how fast she could have run if she wasn't wearing her armor.

Darkness and I sat and talked while we waited on Danny and Autumn. They apparently took their sweet time as it was a substantial time after we arrived that they walked in. Danny looked at us both "So who won?"

"I did" I said, and Darkness confirmed it. I was thankful that she was a good sport about it, and to be honest that's kind of what I expected. Danny then went over to talk to Luna and get our reward for the quest. He also posted another advertisement on the board, this time for a ranged attack mage. As our team was now, none of us had any ranged attack to speak of, apart from Danny's 'shield throw' skill so a mage made a lot of sense. After we finished our meals we each headed to our respective sleeping areas. Me and Danny to the stables, and Darkness and Autumn towards wherever they stayed.

* * *

That night I had trouble sleeping. There was so much back home that I missed. Namely family members who I would never see again. Danny usually went outside for a few minutes before going to bed. I decided to join him tonight.

As expected he was sitting outside the stables, staring at the stars. How dramatic. Although, to be honest, they were pretty. I hadn't really looked up to appreciate the night sky before, and now that I had I almost wanted to get up and do this more often...almost. I like sleep. A lot.

"Hey whats up?" Danny had noticed me as I walked out.

"I was just thinking of mom." I replied.

"Ah, I see. Homesick huh?"

"Yeah, I guess it's my turn now." I said, thinking back to our first day here and we both laughed. I had kept my mind busy with other thoughts then, but the reality of it all only now seemed to hit me.

"Well, why don't you sit down and talk a while? After all, today was a pretty big day so it'd be nice to sit down and relax before bedding down for tonight." And so I did.

"So Danny, we've been here a while. I'm certain by now you've started to get used to life without technology, but what's one thing you really miss about home?" He looked down and thought for a moment.

"Video games."

"That's pretty ironic, considering where we are."

"Well, there's a lot of games that I'm going to miss out on, like Fallout 5."

"Ok, I can understand that."

"So what about you?" Danny asks.

"Internet, definitely." I didn't even need to think about it to be honest. If there's one thing that'd be nice to have, it would be access to a reliable map, among other things.

"Ok, ok. Uh, cell phone. That'd be nice, especially when we need to find each other on the other side of town." We both laughed and talked for a while longer until another question came up.

"What do you think our families would think if they saw us right now?" I asked.

"They'd probably think we looked ridiculous, gallivanting around like a couple fantasy story heroes." He looked down again "But they'd also probably be overjoyed at the fact that we were still alive, no matter where we were or what we were doing."

"What do you think the girls would have done if they had come here?"

Danny and I laughed a little at the thought of Isabel and Haley being in a place like this. They never played video games and always made fun of us in class back home. "They'd probably call us massive nerds and refuse to become adventurers with us." Danny said "Then proceed to wonder why we were coming back into town from quests with a small girl covered in slime. If we played our cards right they might even call us perverts."

"Ah, good to know we still remember them pretty consistently." They weren't actually that bad, but we knew for certain they'd make fun of us "You think they're enjoying themselves in heaven?"

"I don't know," Danny continued "If I'm honest, what Aqua told me about heaven, it didn't exactly sound very exciting."

"I feel inclined to agree." I said "I do hope they are enjoying themselves though, however they may be doing that." At that we decided to call it a day and hit the hay. Literally. Ya know, I wonder if that's actually how that term got started?

* * *

The next morning, Danny and I had agreed to meet at the guild hall at 11:00. He went to go sell the loot we got in the dungeon while me, Darkness, and Autumn waited at the guild. While we waited, I noticed a small girl wandering the guild. She seemed to be looking for someone and holding up a piece of paper whenever she talked to someone. Eventually she made her way to the table where we were sitting.

"Excuse me, are you the ones who put this up yesterday?" she asked holding the piece of paper up to my face. It was the notice Danny had put up yesterday looking for a mage. The girl wore a short red skirt, a black cape, a black wizards hat that looked like a weird face, a red eye patch, and held a brown staff that had a red orb floating in the center of it.

"And who might you be?" I asked her. She procured a smug smile and struck a pose. Great, a showoff.

"My name is Megumin, the most powerful of all the crimson magi, and destroyer of all who cross my path!"

"Oh, looks like my bunny slippers just ran for cover." I say dryly. Was it acceptable if I used a phrase from a movie in another world here? Well, either way, she made an effort to seem intimidating, but I couldn't help but laugh a little inside. "Well, I'm sorry to break it to you but I-"

"Stop right there Megumin!" I was cut off by another small girl yelling pointing her finger at Megumin from the middle of the guild hall and walking over to us. Megumin looked fairly annoyed when she heard this other girl though.

"What are you doing here?" Megumin asked, sounding greatly annoyed that her 'application' to our party had been interupted.

"To prove to you that I'm the stronger mage, I'm going to join this party!" she said "They'll most certainly pick the better of the two of us."

"Get lost!" shouted Megumin "I was here first!"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up." I say, attempting to get both of the girl's attention "Ok first off, who are you?" I ask the new girl. She instantly seemed to become rather bashful when I addressed her.

"Y-Y-Yunyun, my name is Yunyun." she said.

"Ok, look. Yes we are looking for a new member. A ranged mage, but you already knew that." At this point, I'm really just trying to deescalate the situation. "Look, I'm not the party leader. He's out right now, but he should be here in a few minutes, but I can try and work this out until he gets here." I decided the best way to choose would be to start with their age and go from there. Iooking at them, it definitely looked like Yunyun was the older of the two given her impressive bust size "So how old are both of you?"

"fourteen" they both say in unison...wait what?!

"Wait you're fourteen?" I ask Yunyun.

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"No, its just...uh...you have a rather well developed body for a fourteen year old." Shit...Did I really just say that?! All the girls looked at me judgmentally. Yea I guess I did.

"I knew it." Megumin said.

"Knew what?" I replied. Me and my big mouth.

"I'm never going to even have a shot at getting in now that she's shown up with those things." Megumin said...this wasn't going to end well. Instantly Yunyun's face turned very red.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked Megumin.

"Oh Please!" Megumin retorted "My skills a far superior to yours, but even if I wasn't your competition you couldn't get in anyways!" Instantly Yunyun seemed to get pretty angry.

"Now look girls I-"

"You can shut it you pervert, since you aren't the leader of this party this doesn't concern you." Megumin exclaimed, cutting me off. Ok that was a little uncalled for...well, maybe not completely if I'm honest.

"So you think the only reason they'd let me join is because of these?!" Yunyun exclaimed, covering her chest to emphasize her point.

"Why Else?! Besides he seems infatuated with them already!"

"I didn't say That!" I say, trying with the best of my ability to defend myself "I just said that I thought she had a well developed body for someone that's fourteen!"

"Smooth Colby, real smooth. At least buy the girl a drink or something first." Danny's sudden appearance got everyone's attention as he walked up.

"Shut it." I replied, quite annoyed at this point "I'll let you handle this." It seemed like these things always happened to me for some reason. I sat back down at the table with Autumn and Darkness and sat my head down flat.

While Danny talked with Megumin and Yunyun, I decided to take my thoughts elsewhere. I noticed that Darkness was blushing for some reason. I had only met her yesterday, but something about her just didn't sit right with me. She seemed to have a rather bright personality, which was something I appreciated in a person, but there was something else I just couldn't quite make out. "Honestly Colby, I'm beginning to wonder if I really want someone like you in my party." Darkness said, still looking strangely flustered.

"What are you talking about?"

"The way you talk. You're incredibly forward to people you've just met, even last night you said to me that-"

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that and you know it. Now stop taking what I say out of context." At that Darkness didn't say anything, apart from squealing silently. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Megumin strike the same pose she did earlier with me, and say the same thing over again. "She did that the first time too, she thought I was the party leader, and I told her you were out and would be back later. Then Yunyun showed up." I hadn't noticed it before, but looking at Danny tower over the two small girls fully clad in his spartan-like armor was quite the sight. It was pretty ridiculous and made me want to laugh a little. Then Danny said something that got my attention.

"That's my fault I guess," he said in response to a question of Megumin's "I had some errands to run that took an unexpectedly long amount of time. Oh thanks for reminding me." He said, then took out a bag and started counting out some Eris. "Darkness, Autumn, here's a share of what I could get from the jewelry we found." And he handed both of them 20,000 Eris. Since me and Danny were still sharing funds, that meant that we got 40,000. I became excited at the prospect of having money to put into something nice, like a house, or something to get us out of the stables. Autumn and Darkness both looked up at Danny.

"Thank you Danny, how very kind." Autumn said.

"Danny, you can do arithmetic!?" Darkness asked. Were mathematics an uncommon skill here? Danny returned his attention to the two mini-mages. By now I had noticed that something felt off about the guild, namely, how it felt oddly shorthanded. Luna also wasn't at her usual post.

One other thing was going through my mind as well though. Was Danny actually going to let one of these two join our group? I had drowned out most of their conversation, but from what I did hear, it seemed rather likely, although who he would choose was beyond me. Megumin seemed too brash and Yunyun seemed too insecure. Of course, it was their skills in combat that really mattered. I wondered what he might have them do to test their skills.

Suddenly, something like a loud siren rang throughout the guild, and sounded loud enough to be throughout the whole town as well, then Luna began to announce something over the alarm "Emergency quest! All adventurers come to the front gate immediately!"

I assumed that this was definitely important as all the other adventurers left the guild in a hurry. They also all seemed very excited about something, Darkness in particular who had a bright red blush on her face.

"Perfect! This will be a great test of yall's skills in battle!" ok, so even Danny was excited. Now I was just confused. Did everyone in town know something that I didn't? I also could barely believe that he was actually considering letting one of these two join, or potentially both of them! I looked at him, very confused, and he just waved his hand in a 'come on' sort of way and we rushed to the front gate along with everyone else.

* * *

When we arrived at the front gate, it looked like every adventurer in the town was here. Everyone around me looked outward toward the horizon in anticipation. Some looked determined, some, like Darkness, looked excited. Megumin and Yunyun looked ready to prove themselves, and Autumn seemed serious as well. Was I the only one who felt completely lost right now! While everyone looked onward towards the horizon, Luna announced what this emergency quest was "Prepare for the cabbage harvest! Each cabbage is worth 10,000 gold each, and tonight's special will be roasted cabbage!"

…

Wait, what!? We're supposed to be harvesting cabbage? We're adventurers not farmers! I don't even like cabbage! If we were supposed to be harvesting cabbage why did everyone look like they were ready to fight an army of undead zombies!?

Suddenly, out on the horizon, a large green cloud formed. As it got closer I realized what it was I was looking at. Flying cabbages with wings made out of leaves of cabbage...

WHAT! Why can cabbages fly here! Cabbages shouldn't be moving in the first place, let alone flying! Just trying to wrap my head around all this was giving me a headache. Never before had this strange world confused me quite as much as it had now.

Megumin walked up ahead of anyone and struck a pose with her staff in front of her and began chanting "Darkness of darkness, light of light, the greatest of powers heed my call!" as she said this her staff began to glow with magical energy and the area that she was aiming at became surrounded by a magic circle "I, Megumin, command thee to do my bidding and vanquish my enemies with the ultimate magic." Her staff and the magic circle now began to glow even brighter, then she called out the final word of her chant "EXPLOSION!" and the area of her target erupted into an awesome explosion as the smoldering carcasses of flying cabbage were flung in many various directions.

I was awestruck by the explosion's awesomeness, Danny looked over to me with a smile "roasted cabbage anyone?" he said. I now found myself wanting Megumin to join our party, then me and Darkness noticed Megumin slumped over on the ground.

We rushed over to make sure she was alright "I'm fine" she said, attempting to reassure us "I've just used all my energy in that explosion." So this is what Autumn had told me about earlier. How using types of magic that were above your skill level could lead to overexertion. I now became less excited about the prospect of having megumin on our team. Danny walked over to us and picked up megumin over his shoulder and carried her to where she would be safe.

By now, a lot of cabbages had made their way closer to the town to where we were waiting on them. Some adventurers had begun fighting them, and I decided to join in.

It seemed like the cabbages were actually pretty dangerous, as many of the other adventurers attempted to dodge them if they couldn't hit them. The cabbages didn't seem to be too much of a problem for me though. They were easy to slash through with my swords, and not too hard to dodge, though I did have a few close calls. I was enjoying this though, taking on a big quest like this with a big group of adventurers. I noticed that Darkness was attempting to hit some of the cabbages. I also noticed that (unsurprisingly, given her performance in the dungeon) that she couldn't hit any of them. Autumn was also with her, standing behind Darkness. I decided that the best course of action to keep from getting hit by one of the cabbages would be to get behind Darkness and slice the one's she missed.

I also recognized that Yunyun was doing quite well at dispelling the cabbages, although she wasn't well protected. Feeling that Autumn and Darkness would be fine, I rush over to Yunyun. Not a moment to soon either as a cabbage was about to hit her. Just before it could reach her I sliced it in two "Thank you for that!" Yunyun said. I simply nodded and got back to slashing cabbages.

Either I was getting tired, or the cabbages were getting faster, but I was starting to have trouble keeping up with them. I noticed that Darkness had moved from her original position and was now acting as a shield for an adventurer who had gotten knocked down by a cabbage. I decided to focus elsewhere, though, as I needed to stay on top.

I continued to slash at cabbage after cabbage, then suddenly one of them hit me from the side. The shock was so sudden the I accidentally threw one of my swords into the are as I fell to the ground. I lifted my head up just in time to see my sword land right between my legs, only inches from my crotch. I was thankful it hadn't been any closer than it was. It didn't look like anyone had noticed my slip-up thankfully. I took my sword and began to slash at cabbages again. I noticed that Autumn didn't have any way to protect herself from the cabbages aside from dodging them, so I decided to get to closer to where I could keep an eye on her. I also asked her for a stamina boost as opposed to a damage boost.

After about an hour or so of fighting the frenzy finally came to an end. Most of the adventurers had started back to the guild, so I decided to as well. Danny decided to be the one from our party to stay and collect the cabbage remains we collected.

* * *

Arriving back at the guild, there was a huge party thrown for all the adventurers with roasted cabbage as the specialty food item. Normally I wouldn't eat cabbage because I didn't like it, but I decided to eat it anyways since it was the special for tonight, and I was surprised to find out that it was actually pretty good. I ordered something to drink and our party sat down at a table and talked for a while we waited on Danny.

When Danny walked in Darkness stood up and called out to him, showing him where we were and he walked over to sit down with us. Megumin Jumped up when he reached the table.

"Danny, I demand to know your decision. You've now seen my incredible power, and Yunyun's not so incredible power." God Megumine was a savage. I kinda felt bad for poor Yunyun.

"Y-yes, please tell us your decision." Yunyun said, ignoring Megumin's obvious insult. Danny looked both of them over intently, trying to decide who to pick. I had expected him to have decided by now.

"Megumin, welcome to the party." Instantly Yunyun slumped over, saddened by the fact that she had been beaten. Personally, I would have brought them both into the party. I put a content look on my face for Danny, but I didn't quite agree with his decision on the inside. "Yunyun, I very much admire your spirit," Danny said "but right now I believe Megumin would be a better fit for our party. Don't worry though, I'm sure you'll join a good party soon." Somehow, I didn't feel like Yunyun actually wanted to join a party for some reason.

"Really? You really think so?" Yunyun asks Danny, to which he nods. Well, maybe she did want to join a party, or she might have just been saying that.

"Now why don't we make this official?" Danny said, and we all put our adventurer cards on the table forming what looked like a torso, with Danny's card as the head, signifying him as the leader of the party. The cards glow in a bright light and complete the process, now forming all of us into one official party. The rest of the night was filled with drinking and talking about the cabbage harvest, congratulating each other on a job well done. Danny also invited Yunyun to join us and payed for a meal for her. The party drew to a close quicker than you would think because of all the fun we had been having, and we made our way back to the stables.

On our way back to the stables we walked with Megumin as she had been staying in there as well. Autumn and Darkness, who had been staying in a hotel, also joined us. Darkness, because she didn't want Megumin sleeping in the same vicinity as me and Danny without another female there, and Autumn because she had been kicked out...for some reason.

After Danny came back inside from his usual nightly reflection time, I decided to ask him something that had been on my mind "So why did you decide on Megumin?"

"Because her explosion magic is very powerful and something we can easily use to our advantage against foes. She's also a pretty important character from Konosuba, so that played into it a little bit."

"I see. I guess that makes sense, but why not just go with Megumin and Yunyun? They're both pretty powerful from what I saw, and it'd be nice to have a mage that isn't just a one-shot wonder."

"There are a few reasons I have, we'll ask Megumin tomorrow what she thinks."

After Danny fell asleep, I sneaked outside. I was supposed to meet Chris at the front gate of Axel at midnight. Thankfully I wore pretty dark clothes anyways so blending in wasn't much of an issue.

* * *

When I arrived at the gate Chris wasn't there yet. I waited for a little while, as I had assumed that I was early anyways. I was actually kind of disappointed that we were doing this tonight. I barely got to have any of Danny's Bloody Mary he made. It surprised me how good it was, and that he knew how to make it.

"Hey Scout."

My thoughts were interrupted by Chris as she came up behind me, startling me a little. "Hey Chris." I replied. It seemed that she had given me a nickname now "I didn't see you at the cabbage harvest today."

"I had some other things I was taking care of at the time, so I couldn't be there. I was disappointed I missed it though."

"The party was the only thing that you missed, to be honest. Cabbages can dish out a surprising amount of damage." She laughed a little at my statement.

"So are you ready to take on your first thief mission?" She asked

"As ready as I'll ever be. So what's the plan?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **An odd place to stop it, I know, but I really wanted to save it for the next chapter.**

 **This chapter was basically a mash up of chapter 3 and 4 from "Blessings of God on These Poor Friends" so naturally it was longer, which was what I wanted.**

 **The next chapter I'm really excited about writing, although it could take a while, similarly to this one.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading!**


	4. Thief for a Night

Hey! Colby!" Megumin's voice had snapped me out of a short nap. I awoke with my face in a mug of ale, the smell of alcohol burning my nose hairs. I had taken Megumin to get lunch while the rest of the party was out looking for a house. I had tried to keep myself awake earlier in the day, but now it was much harder, "That must be pretty strong stuff to put you to sleep that easily, or you just don't stomach booze very well."

I felt a little insulted that she would even consider that I was that much of a lightweight. I mean, yea, Alcohol was a new thing to me, but I have a Scottish heritage, so I have a tough stomach "No, I'm just tired is all."

"Didn't sleep well?"

"Guess not." I said rubbing my eye and yawning. Of course, that's not the real reason I was so tired. Well, sort of I guess.

* * *

 **(Last Night)**

Getting inside of Gilderoy's mansion was, surprisingly, the easy part. There wasn't much in the way to keep us out, besides a locked door. Thankfully Chris knew how to pick locks, and she was pretty good at it too, as expected of an experienced thief.

I wondered how it came to be that Gilderoy could afford a mansion like this. I mean, he's a librarian, it's not like he makes a lot of money, especially with how few people seemed to be in that library at any given time. Come to think of it, in the week that I worked there I can only recall seeing maybe 8 people in there other than me, Gilderoy, or Chris, and Chris was only in there once. It was obvious by now that he was much more than a simple librarian.

Once we got in, I was taken back by the grandeur of the main entrance. Above us hanging from the ceiling was a large chandelier. In front the main hall opened wide with several large doorways that opened up to different rooms. There were two large staircases that came curved from the ground and joined at the second floor, and on both floors there was a large double-door in between them. "Well, he's certainly doing well for a librarian." I whispered to Chris.

"You've got that right." She responded. Because of the size of the mansion, we decided it would be best to split up so we could cover more ground. I took the upstairs while she looked around downstairs.

As I walked upstairs, I was awestruck by the craftsmanship of the stairway. The stairs were all completely made of marble, and completely smooth with a rounded edge. The railing had marble columns, but appeared to be made out of bronze. At least, I assumed it was bronze. Down the middle of the stairway was a dark blue carpet with black trim. It seemed odd to me that it wasn't red.

One thing I instantly realized was how many rooms there were upstairs. I definitely had my work cut out for me. I was doing my best to be as quiet as possible, thankfully my shoes were pretty light and didn't make all that much noise. Most of the rooms seemed like they were set up to be bedrooms, albeit unused. I wonder if he had many guests very often. Certainly he couldn't have this big house and live in it all by himself could he?

* * *

As I was checking the various rooms, I found one in particular that seemed quite interesting. When I walked in I noticed that it was much darker than the rest of the rooms on account of it not having any windows for the moonlight to enter through. Thankfully my swords worked well as a light source. I drew them from their sheath and filled the room with a soft blue light. There was a lot of equipment in here, most of which seemed to be for alchemy. Various vials and flasks and beakers, all filled with different liquids of varying color. One of them even seemed to glow. On the other side of the room there was a table with a lot of different markings on it that I couldn't make out. This must be where he worked on a lot of different magical tools and potions I guess. At the other end of the room was a wooden chest. I got excited when I saw it. Certainly this could be a place where one might store a talisman that could instantly restore someone's magic poole.

When I opened the chest my heart sunk. It was full of random things that seemed to have just been thrown in there. No talisman to speak of. Nevertheless I searched through it, maybe I'd find something useful. While I was rummaging through it I noticed something unusual, but familiar. A faint blue glow coming from under the mass of junk. I reached my hand in and pulled out a small round...something. It was a small round doughnut shaped token, and in the center was the source of the glow. The sword in my hand glowed immensely when I moved it closer the round object. I noticed that they both had similar markings etched on them. There was a hole in the Pommel of my sword that I had always just thought was for decoration, but on closer inspection it seemed that the object would fit perfectly inside the hole.

I moved the round object closer to the hole, and it suddenly jumped from my hand perfectly into position. My sword grew brighter, and my still sheathed sword flew from my sheath and made contact, forming a completely new sword. It was much heavier than either of them, and glowed far brighter. The design was completely different as well. While my swords were curved outward at the center, this one was straight all the way down the blade, with two small spikes coming out at the end, and the tip had a small cut-out through the center, about an inch long. Although it was much heavier, I found it still easy enough to use single handed, even though the hilt could accommodate both my hands. The cross-guard was much wider now as well, and had a slight upwards angle to it. "Well, that's certainly interesting." I said to myself.

I looked back down at the Pommel. The circular object was still there, and no matter how I swung the sword, it never came out. I wondered how I was supposed to get them back to normal, assuming I even could. Then I noticed on my hip had appeared a new sheath "Well, I guess it's stuck like this until I can find something else out." I sheathed the new form of my swords, but when it had fully been inserted it disappeared, leaving only the round object in my hand. I panicked for a split second, then realized that my swords had reappeared on my back in their original form. I put the circular object in my pocket and continued my search for the talisman, excited by the potential for new abilities with my "new" sword.

* * *

Continuing onward I didn't find much else worth noting. I was about to go try and find Chris until I walked into a large opening in the center of the mansion's hallway which faced the backyard. There were two very large double-doors in the center of the opening, but what was most interesting was an open window. I didn't think much of it at the time, assuming someone had just left it open.

Suddenly, I heard one of the large doors open. I hid behind a wall, doing my best to be as quiet as possible. I looked around the wall to see if it was Gilderoy...it wasn't. In fact, I'm not quite sure what it was. It stood on two legs and was quite tall. Because of the moonlight I couldn't make out anything more than a basic silhouette. It did seem very careful to shut the door back as quietly as possible. It then leapt for the window and sprouted wings that looked like a bat and flew off...well...I guess me and Chris weren't the only ones robbing this place tonight...at least...that's what I assumed it was doing.

I entered the room behind the two large doors. It turned out to be another bedroom, again not very well lit. I took out one of my swords to help light up the room so I could see. I didn't really look towards the bed, as there were other types of storage on the other sides of the rooms. This room did seem much better furnished than most of the other rooms. Several dressers, a very ornate vanity, a table, a few chairs. I decided to start looking through the vanity before anything else. While I was rummaging through one of the drawers I heard a snort come from the other side of the room...the side with the bed. I looked back towards the bed and saw Gilderoy, sleeping happily. I decided it was best it stay that way. I silently crept back outside the room and went about my business.

* * *

After completely going through the upstairs area, I decided to go back downstairs and meet up with Chris. She was waiting in the main entrance for me "Did you find anything?" she asked me.

"Uh, no unfortunately," I responded, I thought it better not to tell her about the little trinket I picked up "What about you?"

"I think I might have, follow me." She lead me through various rooms until we reached a large room that appeared to be some kind of library, or a study. If there was one thing that was true to Gilderoy's character here, it was that he loved books.

"So what do you think you found?" I asked Chris, curious as to why she brought me here.

"Well, while I was searching this room I noticed an odd shining coming from over here." She moved over to one of the bookshelves "And look, there's a gap in between these two bookshelves that you can look into and see a different room. I'll bet if we pull on enough of these books, we might find one that'll let us in." Ah the classic bookshelf lever cliche, never gets old.

It would seem that one of the levers did in fact open the bookshelf, as after much pulling, the bookshelf moved out of the way, revealing a completely new room. Inside the room were several pedestals, each with something inside them that looked very powerful and/or very expensive. They all had glass casing on top of them that covered whatever it was inside. At the very center of the room was the talisman that we had been searching for. We walked up to it. It was covered in glass like everything else.

"So, what do we do, just take it off?" I asked.

"No, he could have it set to trigger some magic rune or something as a trap." uh, duh "No, it would be much better if I just did this." then she put her fist out in front of her "Steal!" she called, and the talisman disappeared from the pedestal and into her hand. She fist bumped the air excitedly.

Suddenly, we both felt a blast of heat rush past our faces as a magic fireball past by us. We quickly turned around to see Gilderoy standing in the doorway. "Well, well, well, it appears a couple of thieves have interrupted a wonderful dream I was having." I felt something grab my ankles and pull me off my feet as my head slammed into the floor, knocking me out.

* * *

I woke up much later hanging from my ankles upside down. We were in the main hall now, strangely enough. I could look out a window and see that it was still nighttime, thankfully. I didn't want to explain to Danny where I had been last night if he wakes up to find me missing. Gilderoy was standing in front of me with his arms crossed. "So, Colby. How are you liking being an adventurer?"

"Uh, gotta say Gilderoy despite the constant fear of pain and death...it's actually pretty fun." I found myself spinning slowly, so I actually wasn't looking at him while I was saying much of this.

"Well that's good, very good." he responded "And how about being a thief, even though your a scout?"

"Well, uh...not quite as good I must admit..."

"Gee thanks." Chris said sarcastically.

Gilderoy then got much more sincere "So who posted the job, if you don't mind me asking."

"No one posted any job." Chris said "The fact is that you had gotten your hands on something I wanted, so I decided that, being a thief, I'd steal it from you."

"This is a very precious talisman, very powerful. I can understand why you would want it." He said, holding the talisman from it's chain, he then looked at it thoughtfully, "You really want it that badly?" Chris stared at him, frustrated "Hmm. I'll tell you what, if you help me with something, I'll repay you with the talisman, how does that sound?"

"What exactly is it you want us to do?" she asked him.

He thought for a moment, then hung the talisman in front of her face "Oh, you needn't concern yourself with it now. I'll give it to you now, you just have to promise me that when the time comes, you'll help me, deal?"

"And if I refuse?"

"Then no talisman for you I'm afraid."

Chris thought for a moment "alright, but only if I can have it right now."

"I'm only going to make the deal if you both agree." he said, motioning towards me.

Chris stared at me hopefully "Colby?"

I was silent for a moment. I didn't want to get stuck into something I couldn't handle because I made a stupid deal, but I decided that I might as well given the circumstances "Ah, what the heck, why not? After all, I did say I'd help you get the talisman, and if that's what it takes to get it then I'll keep my word on that." Suddenly my ankles were freed from what ever snare they were in and I fell to the ground head first...again.

"Well then, in that case I'll give this to you," Gilderoy said, giving her the talisman "and you both are free to go. Just keep an eye out for me. I'll get in contact with you when you're ready to make good on your deal."

"Just a minute Gilderoy," I said "there's something I want to ask you."

"Yes Colby?"

"You're not just a librarian are you?"

"No, that's more of a side-job. I'm actually an adventurer myself, an arch mage to be exact. Although, personally I prefer to consider myself as more of an archaeologist of sorts."

"Are you in a party?" Chris asked.

"No, I'm somewhat of a loner, which is actually why I need the help of you two." and at that we said our goodbyes and left Gilderoy's mansion.

I got back to the stables shortly after the sun had come up. I jumped through the window doing my best to be as quiet as possible. Danny was still asleep thankfully. I stretched my arms and started to take off my shoes, then Danny woke up yawning and rubbing his eyes "Hey Colby, up already huh?" I started putting my shoes back on instead.

"Yea, woke up just a little bit ago actually. Thought I'd get an early start on things." I didn't really want to tell him about last night, considering I hadn't said anything before to him.

* * *

 **(Current Time)**

I paid for mine and Megumin's meals and decided to go looking for a new quest for our team. There weren't a lot right now, and the ones there were seemed to mostly have a lot of skulls. Nothing on the board seemed to grab my attention so I decided to go to the bar and see if they had something I could get as a pick-me-up.

The barmaid recommended something called a "Cold Blazer" which, turns out, is a pretty accurate description. I swear that when it went down it took some of my vocal chords with it. It did wake me up though, so I got what I asked for.

While I was sitting at the bar trying to recover from nearly coughing up my own esophagus, a man walked up to me and asked if I was with the party that cleared out that dungeon a couple days ago.

"Yes sir, that would be us." I said as I was trying to keep myself from coughing up my lungs, which I was sure wasn't helping "What is it we can do for you?"

"I have a job that I'd like your party to take care of. I've heard that your team would be the one to ask about it." He seemed quite frantic for some reason "you see I'm a landowner here in Axel, but recently an officer of the devil king started blocking one of the roads that I travel on." He said, handing me a piece of paper that outlined the quest in detail "He doesn't let anyone pass, he doesn't carry any weapons, he just stands there, blocking the road."

I observed the piece of paper he gave me and looked it over. The reward was a very good haul, but something struck me as odd "Uh, it says here that we have a month to complete it."

"Yes, it won't be very vital for it to be done until then for reasons I don't care to share right now, so there isn't any need to rush into it. So do you think you and your party can handle it."

I looked it over a couple more times "Well, I personally don't think it would be an issue for our group, either way though I'm not the group leader so only he'll be able to decide whether or not we'll do it."

"Of course, I understand completely. Thank you for sparing your time sir." and at that he left the guild and went about his business.

I wasn't sure what Danny might think. He could think that it would be too dangerous, but I just wasn't sure. Megumin was sitting at the table looking rather board. I decided to tell her about it in advance before we actually showed it to Danny to get her feeling better. She certainly did like the prospect of getting to use her explosion magic on an officer of the devil king's army. Of course, that was a month away at most, so all she had to do was look forward to it. We wandered through town for a while until we found the others and showed them the job the landlord had given us. Danny seemed somewhat hesitant at first, but was altogether accepting of it, specifically given that we didn't have to do it until a month's time. It also didn't feel like a job we could refuse.

By the time we had found them it was already getting pretty late, and although it felt like we had only just had lunch, the whole party was already pretty hungry by now. It was actually quite a while ago since me and Megumin had lunch because of how long it took to find the rest of the group.

Dinner was actually quite eventful. Darkness challenged Danny to an arm wrestle, with the whole guild getting in on it and betting in money that no one actually cared to swap hands to at the end of it...mostly because everyone bet on Darkness to win and Danny won. Personally I wanted to bet on Danny, but decided not too. He was already in penny pinching mode and I felt like it wasn't really worth the risk.

Finally getting back to the stables everyone went to sleep. Well, all except for Danny who usually stayed up a little later than everyone else. Me, I fell asleep almost right as soon as my head hit the hay, still tired from last night.

I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Judging by the moon outside I hadn't been asleep for very long...which was frustrating.

* * *

As I was rolling around on the hay trying to get comfortable I felt something in my pocket that kept me from sleeping. I took it out of my pocket and looked at it for a while "I wonder how it is that Gilderoy came into possession of you." I said to myself. After a long while of staring, I grabbed my swords and went out into the field.

I grabbed one of my swords and inserted the circle into the Pommel. Instantly just like last night, the two swords formed one larger sword. I swung it around in various ways. Over my head, spinning it beside my, making various cuts through the air.

While I was swinging it something interesting and unexpected happened. Halfway through one of my swings, a flash of blue glowing energy was thrust from my sword and obliterated a random sleeping frog. I looked at my sword, in awe of it's potential. I attempted a thrusting motion and a similar, but more arrow-like energy blast shot from the blade. I was far enough away from the stables that no one could have heard me.

Now ready to go back to sleep, I made my way back to the stables, slightly more tired than I was before. As I was walking back I felt a large gust of chilling wind on my back. I remembered Danny mention that we needed to get a house before winter came, but how we were going to do that was up to him.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 **Hi All**

 **So this chapter took A LOT longer than I wanted it to. Mostly because I had gotten pretty busy and it sort of fell to the back of my mind...I also completely rewrote it at some point, so yea there's that to. It's also much shorter than I wanted it to be, but I did get in all that I wanted to in terms of the actual chapter length itself. Just think of this as sort of a foreshadowing chapter, which is partially what it's supposed to be.**

 **I'm going to try and make sure the next one doesn't take as long, I don't think it will. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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